My first blog! Now my husband will have yet another thing to tell me I'm wasting my time on (totally kidding- he is super supportive of my education process)! Facebook gets a bad rap- it's just a way to give my brain cells a break when I'm on a study rampage, although I could probably do well to check it a little less frequently...... Anyway, back to blogging... when my resident during my first term of clinic suggested starting a health blog I was honestly sarcastic regarding my free time. Full time med school student, mama to a wild boy of almost 2, living on acreage (so many leaves!), married, and trying to run a household, teaching bassoon lessons .... let me catch my breath.... I never believed that I could eek out the time and energy necessary to blog. However, it is almost Thanksgiving break (woohoo a week off!) and then comes winter break (a whole month!) so hopefully I can make it a new habit. I already share so much information via the dreaded FB that I would probably save myself [FB] time sharing things on here. I absolutely welcome feedback and I would love to see this blog become a starting point for many amazing discussions and sharing of information.
I am currently in my second year of school at the oldest naturopathic school in the country, the National College of Natural Medicine. It has been an amazing journey since I started last fall. My husband, son, and I moved to Portland last summer after living for six beautiful years in Ashland, Oregon. While there I completed a BS in Biology with Biomedical Science as my emphasis as well as a BS in Music (yes, a BS in music DOES exist although I'm pretty sure there's not too many of us out there). I was shooting for conventional med school and was completely wrapped up in modern medicine. During my senior year (5th year super-senior that is!) I began working as a Clinical Research Coordinator in Southern Oregon working on trials of pharmaceutical medications for asthma, COPD, and allergies. While I definitely recognize the need for powerful drugs to combat some of the diseases of our modern age I came to the conclusion that I did not want to learn a system of medicine where these drugs would be my primary form of medicine as they can have some very real and very serious side effects and don't always work. It was also during this time that I got married and pregnant with the little munchkin. We chose to try a home birth and worked with a wonderful midwife in Southern Oregon who also had a naturopath (and fellow mama) practicing at her office at the time. I had the naturopathic epiphany one evening and through some wonderful mama-to-mama advice decided to apply to NCNM.
I have been so amazed by the supportive community that I have found at NCNM. They have a remote room set up for new mamas to bring their babes (until around age 1) and view/listen to lectures on couches. Since roughly 1/2 of the curriculum is lecture based it makes the childcare requirement much less and also encourages healthy mama/baby bonding which is so essential! Now that my munchkin is older I don't bring him regularly as he has far outgrown the baby room, although during a family crisis the school permitted me to bring him for a limited time (which absolutely saved my sanity). There are about five other mamas in my year and several more in the upper classes. We have all bonded over the struggle with juggling school and family. The other nice thing NCNM does is offer the curriculum as a 4, 5, or even a 6 year program. Most of the moms are on the 5 year track which, although very appealing in times of stress, means another year of debt and rain, two things I would really like to avoid. So, despite the sometimes insane schedule I am determined to make it out in 4 years.
This blog will include things that I research for school, things that I research for care of the little guy or big guy, and other randomly interesting articles and research that I happen to stumble upon in my studies. I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not yet a doctor, and therefore have no legal ability to diagnose or provide treatment. This blog will be for the sharing of information for which I can always provide reference. It is not meant to be in lieu of regular licensed medical care and I highly encourage everyone to check in regularly with their primary care physician. That said, thanks for reading and I hope it will be worth your time to check in regularly :)
No comments:
Post a Comment